17B 
Ordinary Meeting, December 13th, 1859. 
Wm. Fairbairn, Esq., F.R.S., &c., President, in the Chair. 
The President gave an account of “ Some Experimental 
Researches on the Efficiency of Continuous and Self-acting 
Railway Breaks.” 
The breaks employed by the Author were those of Mr. 
Newall and Mr. Fay, which are identical in principle, and 
consist essentially of a series of break-blocks acting upon 
every wheel of every carriage throughout the train. These 
break-blocks are all worked by a single breaksman or guard, 
by means of a continuous shaft carried the whole length 
of the train beneath the framing, with suitable jointed 
couplings between each pair of carriages, so that they may 
act unimpeded by the jolting of the train or the action of 
the buffers. Powerful springs also are placed beneath each 
carriage, and are connected with the rocking shaft, by 
means of which the breaks are made to act instantaneously 
throughout the train, on the release of a catch by the guard 
at either end. The experiments w'cre made by starting, 
alternately, a train of each description, either by gravity on 
an incline or by traction, and after having passed a sufficient 
distance to obtain a measure of uniform velocity, the trains 
were breaked and brought to rest. The signals for taking 
time and for breaking were all given by fog signals, and the 
distance of pulling up was measured wnth care when the train 
had come to a stand. 
Proceedings— Lit. & Phid. Society— No. 6 .— Session, 1859 - 60 . 
